Dear family and friends,

Praise to Jesus Christ, who called and dispatched us to a little town in Southern Sudan called Akobo. Thanks to those of you who supported us with your prayers and those who sacrificed financially in support of this trip. Special thanks to my wife and family who sacrificed greatly for me to be able to go.

I consider myself blessed and privileged to be invited to go and assist

• my cousin, Dr. David Hopper, a Christian physician who does frequent short term missions;
• Nicole Evans, an experienced EMT from Colorado who now lives in Clarksville, TN with her husband, Chris, who is in the Army and stationed at Fort Campbell; and
• Charlotte Sinclair Barkley, director of Bush Telegraph, Mission to the Persecuted Church.

I had accompanied David to Sudan on 3 trips between 2000 and 2002. At that time, there was a civil war raging between the Arab-Islamic government in northern Sudan and the African Christian and animist population in the south. After independence from the British in 1956 the Islamists took control of the Sudanese government in Khartoum, and proceded to "Arabise" the entire population, and ultimately tried to establish and enforce Islam and sharia law throughout the country. After decades of war, oppression and exile, the Southern Sudanese had managed to push out the Islamists from parts of the country and many displaced Sudanese were slowly filtering back in from Ethiopia to resettle. We encountered a huge amount of disease and starvation, and a profound faith in Christ in the middle of all that. Many of those seeds of faith had been sown in the first part of the 20th century by SIM (Sudan Interior Missions) and other missionary efforts. There were tattered bibles and hymn books which had been translated into several tribal languages, and had sustained those people for decades. On the second trip, David brought in 1,000 bibles translated into the Nuer language. They were embraced like gold! During the third trip, one of our sponsors, Dennis, traveled about 50 km along the Ethiopian border and found many churches had recently sprung up all along the way.

In 2005, a peace agreement was signed between South and north Sudan. It provided power and wealth sharing (there is an enormous amount of undeveloped oil under South Sudan) for a period of 6 years, with an option for the South to secede from the country by referendum in 2011.

Another of our missionary sponsors, at that time, Joe Dyer, had spoken to David about a town he had spent some time in — Akobo. Joe's heart was all about Southern Sudan. He spent a significant amount of time there and just loved the people. He would still be there if he had not fallen victim to ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). He is only able to move his fingers enough for wheelchair controls now, but his heart is still on fire for the Sudanese and for Christ!

Joe told David he was convinced that Akobo is the key to peace in Southern Sudan. He said that this little isolated town is at a convergence of many diverse tribes, and that if the churches in those tribes could work together in Christ to make peace around Akobo, that peace would spread throughout Southern Sudan.

In 2009, the violence around Akobo has exceeded the violence in Darfur. Many attacks among rival tribes have occurred this year. In August, there was a massacre of a fishing village near Akobo, which killed 185 people, mostly women and children. There were many similar attacks this year varying in size, some reported, some not. Most of them were about cattle theft, grazing rights and/or revenge. The unity that prevailed against the Islamic Government of Sudan only 4 years ago has disappeared and left a power vacuum, historical rivalries between tribes and guns.

Jesus cited Jonah's experience as an illustration of His own death and resurrection. That tells me, it's a true story. It is also a lesson of obedience to God. When God told Jonah to go deliver a message to the Assyrian city of Ninevah, Jonah ran the other way.

After my last trip to Sudan in 2002, I married a lovely woman, and was entrusted with 3 amazing children. I became very comfortable in the challenge of being a husband and a dad.... Very busy, very important job. So, when my cousin came up to me at a family gathering in August, I thought he was joking when he asked, did I ever have any thoughts about going back to Sudan, LOL. "Oh, sure", I responded, "pretty much, at the drop of a hat."

"Well," said cousin, "I have a team going first of October, and I need someone who isn't naïve to the situation there."

My reply didn't even give a hint that I KNEW my wife would never agree to that, "Sure, I'll have to pray about it and talk to my wife, but I'll let you know directly." I prayed about it, but I knew there was no way.

Next day I called her from work, "Honey, just keep an open mind and pray about this, but David asked me to go to Sudan in a couple of months." Then I breathed a sigh of relief and started thinking about how I would let David know she didn't want me to go just now.

She called me back within an hour and said, "I don't have a problem with you going to Sudan, ... just as long as you don't spend the Christmas money." I was stunned ... We have Christmas money?!!!

Next, I thought about my passport.... Expired in May.... No way can I get that done up in time, passports take forever these days. So I went to the website and did the "expedite" option and told my cousin, "Rebecca is good with the trip, but my passport's expired, so I don't know how close this is going to be." He soon sent me more information... Links to news reports, and estimation of costs. Not exactly the safest neighborhood, and how am I going to ever raise $3,500? I was still pretty doubtful this was going to materialize, but I started writing a note to post on Facebook and requested prayer from my Sunday School class.

In 7 days, my new passport arrived. In 2 weeks all the money for my expenses had been provided. Additionally, another thousand dollars was donated to cover medicines for us to purchase inexpensively in Kenya and take into Sudan with us. There was no longer any doubt in my mind that God was paving the way for this trip.

Sometimes God lets us know why. Other times, we're supposed to trust and obey. The original plan was to take in 6 or 7 people, but one got sick, one was too busy, and one was called away to another town. I kept thinking of Gideon, who tested God with a wool fleece, and then God kept reducing the size of his army until it was a ridiculously small number of men to defeat the Midianites. (Judges 6 and 7).

David thought that our role going into Akobo was not entirely clear as it would be his first mission trip working in an established hospital. All of the previous trips involved setting up clinics in remote locations and handling everything from patient intake to dispensing medicines. He felt this trip might turn out to be more outreach and assessment than hands-on acute care. It turned out to be a mixture of everything. We set out to be flexible and prayerful and follow where the Lord led us, fulfilling whatever needs we could, learning about the community and the people and most importantly, praying and worshipping with our Christian brothers and sisters.

Charlotte Barkley had arranged to go into Akobo upon an invitation from Dr. Michael Tut Pur. Dr. Pur was one of the thousands of Sudanese "Lost Boys" who ventured out of Southern Sudan during the war. He lived near Akobo until he was 9 years old. His father was a Presbyterian minister in a nearby village. He was one of 600 children who were "adopted" and educated by Cuba. He lived there 15 years and became a physician. He and 12 other medical grads were working in Canada and became involved with Samaritan's Purse. SP helped get them additional training in Canada and then in Kenya, in tropical medicine. Michael was reunited with his father in Nairobi, Kenya after 20 years separation. He then returned to his childhood home, Akobo to refurbish the hospital and take over the duties of the health department director for Akobo County. He and Dr. Gaelic (who had also grown up in Akobo) took the destroyed mission hospital from just seven beds to a 70 bed facility with a functional OR in just under 2 years. They still have another 50 beds in storage for when the renovation is completed.

I departed Knoxville on Monday morning, October 12. I checked two 50 lb. bags of food, toys, supplies, surgical instruments and various medical supplies (donated by Children's Hospital). I squeezed my personal items into a carry-on backpack, and carried a camera bag with camcorder and digital camera. In Detroit, I met David's flight from Greenesboro, and we boarded Northwest Air to Amsterdam. We discussed the trip, played some scrabble, and I caught a few naps before landing 8 hours later, just around daybreak, Tuesday. The Dutch are brilliant but bizarre engineers. The airport was kind of peculiar in a lot of ways, but I was too tired to try to get a grip on it. I explored the tulip bulb section of the gift shop, and later found a place to charge up my iPhone. The leg to Nairobi was another 8 hours, and I managed a nap or 2. It was a big plane, and I caught up on a couple of movies. KLM was not a bad service. They kept feeding us until we were fully sedated. It was dark again when we landed in Nairobi... About 7 p.m.

Going through customs in Nairobi is a giant cluster, and the procedure is never clear. We wound up in a long visa line behind two Korean missionaries to Africa —the first of 3 Korean encounters. David's parents and paternal grandparents were missionaries to Korea, and David grew up there. He still has pretty good language skills, so he likes to surprise Koreans by greeting them in their own language. The older of these two knew of David's father and his work with the churches in Korea. When we got up to the counter to pay for our visas, we found out that the Koreans had already paid for us! We got our baggage without any hassles, and we were eventually able to contact Mayfield House (the mission house).

Charlotte came with a Mayfield House driver to pick us up. Charlotte was a very pleasant person, and clearly a person of great faith in Jesus. I enjoyed getting acquainted with her on the way back across town. She travels all over parts of Africa working with communities and churches, and especially with women and children, teaching about the Bible. She had taken a 30 hour bus trip getting to Nairobi from Eastern Sudan to come and meet us.

Mayfield House is a GREAT place to stay. It has a warm Christian staff, and just feels like home. The meals are awesome, family style and served in a big room with 6 or 8 tables of 10. You just never know who you might run into there. We were sitting in one of the main rooms, with several areas of couches and chairs. A number of us were trying to hook into the wi-fi. It was impossibly slow, and David spotted a young Korean couple across the room, and we went over to talk to them. On the way back, the guy who was working on his mac and iphones next to us before, looked up and said, "Is that David Hopper?" It was our old friend, Dennis, who had brought us into Eastern Sudan on our previous 3 trips—small world!

Turns out, Charlotte also knew Dennis from an organization they were both previously affiliated with. After that, we got to meet Nicky, and discovered she had flown in on the same plane with us, but made her way to Mayfield on her own.

If you don't know Joe Kadenge, you're not from Kenya. I'm a Kenyan! After a great night sleep, breakfast and shower, I went outside to take some pictures of the beautiful grounds. There were these stunning enormous purple trees (Jacaranda) in full bloom along with many other multicolored foliage.

Soon, Dennis and David came out to meet their friend Gideon, and we asked someone to take our picture together. I noticed an older gentleman with a broad brim hat walking up from the driveway and waved to him. He grinned and waved back. He turned out to be our driver for the morning. Charlotte likes to employ his service when she stays in Nairobi. It didn't take long to find out why. His car wasn't anything fancy... in fact, he had definitely got his money's worth out of it. I had some trouble opening my door from the inside. After we got under way, Charlotte introduced him.

Joe Kadenge, it turns out, is a soccer hero in Kenya. Rather than retire after he finished playing and then coaching professionally, Joe started a cab company, and loves to transport various people (especially missionaries it seems) around Nairobi... and EVERYBODY knows and adores him. Talk about access! When we passed through one of the police checkpoints, and the officer didn't recognize him, Joe said, "Don't you know who I am?" and when the officer didn't, Joe said to him, "You're not from Kenya." When we reached the Southern Sudan embassy, the gates swung open wide, and everyone wanted to greet Joe and shake his hand! David and I were able to quickly pick up our Sudanese visas, which we had pre-arranged through Gideon, but Nicky had to go get cash and a photocopy of her passport first (the embassy copier was broken). Joe drove us by the MAF airport to finalize our plans for the next day and arrange for the extra weight of the medicines.

After lunch, David and I got a Mayfield driver to take us over to Kijabe, about an hour and a half away to visit with Dr. Dick Bransford at BethanyKids Children's Hospital. We found Millie Bransford at the main house, and watched a couple of short videos Willis and Francis had just completed for Dick in the studio. Dick was in a long multi surgeon procedure, but was able to step out into the lounge intermittently to visit with us. It is always great to visit with the Bransfords. I've learned volumes from them, and I believe they are largely responsible for a good bit of medical mission interest and activity in Southern Sudan. I helped Dick years ago on an early version of the BethanyKids.org website, and have read and shared his monthly newsletters over the years. I consider their commitment to Christ and the children of Africa heroic.

6:00 am Wednesday, we reported to the MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) hangar. We were weighed, ticketed and ushered across to the tarmac waiting area/porch/giftshop. It was only about 15 minutes before we were escorted out to our waiting plane. The pilot was a young man from the UK. He was very polite and accommodating. His name was Adrian, and I cannot express to you the comfort of boarding a plane where the pilot leads you in prayer before takeoff. Some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever gazed on has been in these flights over Kenya. Nairobi has some clear affluence that resembles an American city, as well as one of the largest slums on the planet. Further to the east is a large game reserve visible soon after take-off. Further north, we passed an enormous volcano crater, and many beautiful mountain ranges. By the time we reached Lokichogio, some 3 hours later, I was starting to get cramped and tired of flying. Then after getting wind tossed a little during the landing, we deplaned briefly to go through customs at what used to be a bustling UN relief distribution center. We had a soft drink and then flew the next hour and a half into Southern Sudan.

The drought-browned terrain gave way to swaths of bright green when we approached the snaking path of the Pibor River. The brown cones of village tukuls began to dot periodic points along the water.

Akobo is a sprawling town with an airstrip on one end and a mile of tree-lined "boulevard," remaining from British occupancy early in the last century. Adrian expertly set down on the dirt runway and expressed relief that it was dry and that it would not be clever to try to land here if it were otherwise. He insisted he would remain until our hosts actually showed up to greet us (there was no welcoming committee anywhere around). Pretty soon a lot of people filtered onto the runway.. lots of curious kids and other folks. Very few spoke any English, but a guy on a motor-cycle rode away to get the ambulance from the hospital and let them know we were here.

A couple of the doctors came back with the ambulance and told us that Dr. Pur was unable to make it back from the Southern Sudan capital city, Juba, to meet us. He notified them the night before that we were coming. Dr. Pur would not be arriving for another WEEK! The one thing you can expect in Africa is the unexpected. Dr. Bill Hardin use to love saying, "It's not how well you execute plan A, it's how well you adjust to Plan B, C, D, E .... etc."

We loaded our supplies on the ambulance and walked the boulevard through town to the medical compound. We saw lots of free roaming cattle. There were quite a few very old British administrative looking buildings.. still in use for one thing or another. Lots of walled in compounds with several or many tukuls and some attempts at growing maize. There was a very large school area with several large covered pavilions and quite a few smaller buildings. Akobo has 2,300 students and 23 teachers. Most people are in grades 1-4, as the war has only been over for 4 years. They attend school in 2 shifts, one group in the morning and another in the afternoon.

The river route has been reopened in the past few weeks allowing restored commerce with Ethiopia which was just a few miles away as well as other towns further to the north. A fairly large marketplace had materialized recently in the middle of Akobo, mostly driven by merchants from Ethiopia bringing in food and other supplies to a drought-stricken population.

One sad tragedy is that although there is a river, there is no good irrigation system and 2 years of drought and crop failure. The people here have lots of cattle, but the grazing lands are largely in hostile territory, where cattle are stolen and people are attacked. Many cattle will be sold in the next 12 months to sustain the people who choose to remain in Akobo until the next rainy season and, hopefully, a good harvest. They are already leaving en masse to move to the areas in Ethiopia where international relief is available.

Jesus is the answer. The situation in Sudan is complicated, and many aspects are difficult to understand, but we were there for only one reason — Jesus wanted us there. It's funny how the basic nature of our mission, and the ultimate answer to all our problems tends to elude us with each new wrinkle. We always seem to turn first to our own intellect and resources to grasp for a way back to the path we laid out for ourselves, and maybe to assign some blame. How succinctly Solomon put it, "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6.

As we got closer to the doctors' compound, we passed the hospital and the nutrition center. It was afternoon, and getting quite hot. The doctors' compound was a fenced in area with a big yard and 4 main buildings about 100 feet or so apart. The ambulance was parked in front of the biggest of these, and our belongings had been moved into a screened in room inside the front door.

The yard had several large trees, and there were a bunch of chairs under the biggest tree next to the main house. Several doctors greeted us and invited us to sit and talk with them in the shade. After some initial introductions, people started drifting in and out of the group, and we found ourselves able to spend some time talking with 1 or 2 people at a time, and really getting some good perspective on Akobo and Southern Sudan.

Joe Dyer was right. Rev. Steven Ter Nyoun works for PRDA (Presbyterian Relief and Development Agency) along with Dr. Micah and Julius. Steven and Dr. Micah were travelling the circuit of organizations in South Sudan that PRDA supports, and conducting an assessment as part of their duties as Program Officers. In Akobo County, PRDA financed the 5 outlying clinics along the river. Julius is the resident administrator for those clinics. The financing was provided for only one year at a time, leaving gaps in the operation of the clinics from one contract to the next. Each time there is a break in funding, staff leaves, clinics close and they have to rehire and start from scratch when a new contract is finally approved. These types of problems are typical of many African relief efforts. Steven spoke to us about the regional violence and expressed agreement with Joe Dyer's conviction that the key to peace was for the churches in Southern Sudan to work together to achieve it, and that Akobo was right in the eye of the storm. We discovered that Steven had gone to seminary in Korea.

David preferred a tent to sleeping indoors because the nights can be pretty hot. I like the idea of being able to seal myself in against flying and crawling things, plus the stars in Africa are amazing. There's no light pollution to obstruct the view. (It didn't stop the cats from playing with my protruding toes in the middle of the night. That was about as close to sheer terror as I came on this trip.)

We started early in the morning and went on rounds at the hospital after breakfast. Dr. Wubeshet is a surgeon from Ethiopia. He and the other docs work for an organization called IMC (International Medical Corps) based in L.A. IMC currently funds operation of the Akobo hospital. It was built and operated by the Presbyterian Church, but they had trouble sustaining the full funding for its operation, so they turned it over to the government. The church still participates in support of the hospital to some extent. Dr. Wubeshet gave us a very thorough tour of the facilities. He's a first rate doctor, and an excellent communicator. I videotaped the tour, and he definitely made it worthwhile.

Now, let me step back a minute to explain that when I say "facilities," it's not like a hospital we're used to in America where everything feels squeaky clean and shiny...no, it's the opposite. In all of Southern Sudan (about the size of France and England combined) there is very little in the way of pavement. In Akobo, there is none. Some of the windows may have shutters and some screen or grating, but no glass. The roof keeps the rain out, and the bats feast on the bugs. The staff does an excellent job keeping things to a degree of cleanliness, but it's a constant battle. There is an electric generator that runs between 10am and 2pm, and then again from 7 pm until 10:30 or 11. It also feeds power to the Doctors' compound. There is a kerosene refrigerator to keep vaccines cold. There's no running water or sewer whatsoever.

(left to right) Dr. Wubeshet, Dr. Gaelic, Julius, Bernadette, David

On the way to the hospital we stopped at a building that is used for the malnutrition clinic. The hospital has partnered with Medair to make this a very effective outreach. Clinic is held Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and weighs and assesses the progress of malnourished children, and teaches families how to follow the proven regimen to return their child to health. They are provided with the correct types and amounts of nourishment to last until their next visit. The head nurse, Bernadette, oversees this program. There were dozens of children waiting to be seen. It was sad to see the state of some of them, but as we learned about the program and saw the progress of some of the pediatric patients while we were there, it was impressive how they returned these children to good health very quickly. The roof of the malnutrition center had 2 gigantic bomb holes in it, and a spray of smaller holes where the shrapnel had escaped the building. The concrete floor was buckled and crushed where the bombs hit. That was a few years ago during the war.

The waiting room to be seen at the hospital is the left side of the front porch. 40 or 50 people show up early and wait for the doctors and medical staff to begin to see patients. They are led in prayer and then checked in, either returning with their own medical forms or starting a new one. They have a very complex and effective operation to sort through adults and peds, preventive care, emergencies, pregnancies, etc. The pharmacy dispenses medicines on the opposite porch.

Some moms brought their babies in baskets on top of their heads.

The hospital complex has some 9 buildings in various states of renovation. The building in front has numerous rooms to see and treat outpatients. There are two inpatient buildings. One for adults and another for children. There is a separate building that stores pharmaceuticals, nutrition and various supplies and equipment. They are renovating another building to house their OR and post op recovery. There is a building with only a foundation and walls and trees growing inside which will eventually be made into a maternity ward. All of these plans are contingent upon funding and support from NGO's (Non-governmental organizations) and the Government of South Sudan, and that will require a formal assessment from a structural engineer (this is a prayer request). It will also hinge upon regional and national political reconciliation and peace. I would also add that, in the effort toward regional peace and stability, a good health-care facility will be a strong unifying asset.

Among the patients in the adult ward were a man with a snake bite on his hand, and a man who had to have his leg amputated from a gunshot wound in a village that was recently attacked. He was reading his bible every time I saw him.

After rounds were completed, outpatients were seen by the doctors. The halls and waiting rooms were filled with people standing or sitting wherever they could. On most days, all patients had been seen by early in the afternoon. On the weekends, no new patients were seen unless it was an emergency. David went in during off hours to do some rounds and clear out a large abcess on a little girl's chin that otherwise would have had to wait until Monday morning.

We took an afternoon tour of the town, getting a closer look at the school, the marketplace and the river. There were lots and lots of vendors selling many of the same basic things from one tent to the next. There were a couple of pharmacies and a butcher in the clearing between the market and the river. The whole butchering area was pretty gross. There were big masses of meat hanging out in the open and flies everywhere. The ground was sticky to walk on, and I couldn't wait to go away.

With the market came lots of trash. There was really no process to dispose of it, so it was pretty well scattered everywhere except for some larger collections next to the river.

Children followed us everywhere. They all wanted their pictures taken pleading, "toure, toure" and making a camera with their hands. Looking back at all the pictures I took, those were the best ones by far. Most all the children were healthy, inquisitive and playful... so different from the war ravaged starving sick kids we saw several years ago out in the bush. You could still see some aggressive looking clench-fisted posturing when some of them posed, and it wasn't hard to recall that not too long ago, they were probably carrying weapons. It finally occurred to me to remind them that they were made in God's image as I was showing them their picture.

Late Friday afternoon we went to the Commissioner's office and met the assistant-commissioner, Moses, and another administrator who was also a pastor. Commissioner Goi Yol was out of town for a week. The gentlemen were gracious and gave us permission to visit all areas of town and do what we needed to help the hospital.

¹ For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According toalamoth. A song.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah
⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
⁸ Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.
¹⁰ "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Saturday, Dr. Gaelic took us on a tour of the old mission house and farm where Don McClure had lived 70 years ago. David had found a book written by McClure called "Adventure in Africa" (or something like that). He read it before the Akobo opportunity even came up! McClure died in Africa, but his children put the book together from his letters to them. Gaelic grew up in Akobo, and conveyed a good summary about the history of the town. He is a brilliant man, and is very adept at securing support and assistance for the hospital. He emphasized over and over again about what he could accomplish when he could get a structural engineer in to complete an assessment for renovation.

Church started at 8 on Sunday Morning. It was right across the street, so we didn't really get an early start. We got there around 10 after, and a lady in a beautiful white dress pointed to 4 chairs at the front facing the congregation. There were already 100 or so people seated in chairs under the big trees in the churchyard. There were 2 long tables in front with several pastors seated at the one on the left and 2 or 3 more in chairs near us.

The choir was singing by the time we arrived.

⁸ Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, "I will set up my camp in such and such a place."
⁹ The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there."
¹⁰ So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
¹¹ This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, "Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?"
¹² "None of us, my lord the king," said one of his officers, "but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."
¹³ "Go, find out where he is," the king ordered, "so I can send men and capture him." The report came back: "He is in Dothan."
¹⁴ Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked.
¹⁶ "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
¹⁸ As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.
¹⁹ Elisha told them, "This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." And he led them to Samaria.
²⁰ After they entered the city, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see." Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.
²¹ When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?"
²² "Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master."
²³ So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory.

One pastor picked up a bullhorn and led the congregation in prayer. After the prayer, he introduced a couple of the pastors in front, and then he introduced each of us. First, David introduced himself and said a few words about why we were there. Then someone translated. Then it was Charlotte's turn, and then Nicky's, and finally mine. There was some giggling when I turned on the bullhorn and cleared my throat into it. I said that I was there because Jesus put it in my heart, and the hearts of the people who sent me to come and express our compassion and concern for our Christian brothers and sisters in Akobo.

In response to the needs of this region, David read from Ephesians 4:2-6 and spoke about unity in the Lord and about praying for unity with other tribes, even if they are tribes you are fighting with.

² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
⁴ There is one body and one Spirit–just as you were called to one hope when you were called–
⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

The guest pastor was the same one who was helped by evangelicals in the United States to give a speech in Washington D.C. to a Sudan peace rally several years ago. It was part of an effort which generated some critical U.S. assistance toward reaching the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. He joked there were 40,000 on the church roles, but only 40 in attendance. There were actually about 200 people there eventually, but in a town of 50k or so, there's a lot of work to do. I guess maybe, with prosperity comes complacency. I didn't see any of the doctors or nurses there as some of them were of different denominations. The pastor's message was about Christians and churches helping to achieve regional peace. He was a very enthusiastic speaker, and the service lasted a full 3 hours! (It usually runs about half that time.) He also quoted from Collossians 3 about unity in Christ:

¹¹ Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
¹² Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
¹³ Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Despite the language barrier, we enjoyed the service. The choir was great and we recognized at least one hymn they sang.

On Monday, we began with rounds again. It was really encouraging to see the patients that looked so grim just a few days before were beginning to show some improvement. I noticed that each time a child turned that corner, and made steps in a positive direction, the head nurse, Bernadette absolutely savored it! Her joy was contagious and inspiring. I could see it in the people around her. These were milestones. This is the kind of person you want looking after your child.

As the doctors and staff evaluated each patient, I began praying for the patients as I followed along. I noticed that Charlotte would sometimes follow further behind and sit with the patients and families and pray with them or for them, often holding their hands. Her personal kindness toward the "least of these" stands out in my mind and my heart. I cannot say enough about how Charlotte exemplifies Christ. Nicky was the same, she befriended some of the most troubled little children, and spent a lot of time making them smile and showing them love.

There was one little boy, maybe 2 years old, I ask for prayer about. He touched all of us deeply, but especially Charlotte. He was a victim of the August massacre at a fishing village where 185 people were killed, mostly women and children. This little boy was brutally thrown down and sustained a head injury. He now has seizures and is unable to walk. He tries and wants to, but his legs won't. He and his mother are in tremendous misery. Most of their family lost their lives in the attack. There is no equipment in the area capable of looking inside his brain to find the problem, and, it is likely to be too late to repair the damage.

After rounds David saw outpatients. He worked in conjunction with one of the medical staff for several very full mornings. There was a broad variety of cases, and it became evident that their pharmacy would benefit from many of the medicines we had brought in with us.

During a few off times, I found myself talking with the doctors one on one about placing full faith on Christ instead of the government, and especially instead of guns. The reactions were mixed. Charlotte commented to one doc that she had heard an interview with a pastor from South Sudan who emphasized that human lives should be given far greater value than those of the cattle that were being fought over. (Are we that cavalier when it comes to things like oil? Think about it.)

It seems like there were about half a dozen times where different people said to me, "We're still waiting to hear what your program is." I believe that there are so many NGO's and relief operations intermittantly appearing in the area, that it becomes the logical question to ask.

My response was always the same, "We are here because Jesus put it on our hearts to come to Akobo and learn about you, and worship with you and offer whatever help we can."

Charlotte arranged to teach groups of children at the church, and worked with groups of women church leaders. When I saw her children's class, it was about 40 boys and girls listening intently to the story of David and Goliath. She ended the lesson by asking, "Who is the Goliath in your life? Whoever that giant is, with God on your side, you will be victorious." She is a master story teller, and uses a kit which has felt backgrounds and bible characters to illustrate the bible stories she teaches. Before we left, she gave the felt set as a donation to the church.

On Wednesday morning, Dr. Pur arrived. We were, needless to say, extremely glad to see him. He didn't waste any time, but immediately set out to address our needs and concerns, and made arrangements for us to travel up river with him the next morning to take medicines to one village clinic and to open a clinic for us to see patients in a further village.

The County Commissioner arrived back the same day, and Dr. Pur took us across town in the afternoon to see him. The Commissioner's house was next to the airstrip and was built by the British around 1915. We were surprised how young he was, about Dr. Pur's age. His name is Goi Yol, and he was educated in the US in Boling Green, KY. He has a wife and 3 children in Nebraska. He worked for the U.N. and then for the President, before requesting to return to Akobo. He is very enthusiastic and innovative, and excited about the potential for Akobo. We learned he is a vegetarian, and is experimenting on the lands behind the compound with various sustainable agriculture. The history of the Nuer people is nomadic and cattle oriented, so long term agriculteral planning is a pretty new concept for them. Before we left Akobo, Charlotte had us take Goi about twenty packs of various kinds of seed and lots of little ziplocs so he could share them.

The river trip was one of the most beautiful rides I've ever been on. We skirted the border with Ethiopia, and for about an hour we were in awe seeing spectacular scenery and a treasure of diverse giant water birds. There were no longer any crocodiles in this part of the river, and all along the way people were enjoying bathing and fishing in the clean cool water.

The first village we stopped at was Dr. Pur's home village, where his dad had preached in the little Presbyterian Church (which inspired 23 children to go on to become ministers themselves). We had a box full of medicines prepared which we left in the dispensary with the village health worker. The central area was just filled with schoolkids....so much energy and hope. There had to have been at least 100 of them. Charlotte shared with a group of them while David and I toured the little church. Nicky showed off some soccer skill for a few minutes with them.

It was probably just another 15 or 20 minutes to get to the next village, and there was already a group of people waiting to greet us. We first went to meet with the village leaders and elders. They expressed gratitude for our coming, but also shared some disappointments about previous visits from westerners. They complained that they always seemed to get promises of further contact and support, but usually never saw or heard from them again. We were careful to make no promises, but to express our joy in coming and meeting them.

Our 2 hour clinic turned into 8 hours, and people kept coming until close to sunset. Our meds ran out one by one, and we had to pack up to leave before dark. Charlotte, Nicky and I filled prescriptions as fast as we could all day, and David and Dr. Pur saw well over 200 people. There was a huge amount of malaria, and various types of acute illness, infection and chronic pain. Oh, yes and lots of intestinal worms.

We left exhausted and with one extra passenger — a beautiful MALE goat which David named "Hershey" since we both have that middle name after our grandfather. The sunset ride home was phenomenal! We got to eat Hershey for supper the next night, but for at least one evening of his life, that was one pampered goat!

In the annual for my Grandfather's graduating class in trade school, it was forcast by the class "prophet" that he would be eaten by cannibals while serving as a missionary in Africa, and that it was said, "he made a great soup." I reminded David of that after we ate Hershey and his great soup. :-p

Dr. Pur worked very closely with David on Friday, rounding and seeing outpatients. It was a busy day, and patients kept coming into the afternoon. We learned volumes from Dr. Pur. He's a great man and a great doctor. What God has enabled him to accomplish in 18 months in Akobo is astounding.

On Friday afternoon, we walked into town with Dr. Pur. I believe that is when David saw Bol. He was about a 9 year old boy with severe cleft lip and palate. Bol was embarassed by the attention and freaked out and ran away when David tried to look closer and take his picture. Dr. Pur found out where the boy lived with his grandmother. It was close by, and we walked over. The docs encouraged the grandmother that there might be help for Bol's condition.

It rained early Sunday morning, so the church service was held indoors. We were escorted to the front to face the congregation again, and soon the Commissioner came in and sat with us. Dr. Pur came in later and joined him. David spoke briefly, and Charlotte told a cool story which I've posted a video of on youtube. Attendance seemed smaller, I guess due to the muddy conditions. After church, as people left we shook hands on the way out and then took our place in the growing line to greet others as they came out and lined up too. It was fun to get to say hi to everybody one at a time, but took a while, and my smile was tired at the end ;-).

Choir 1, Choir 2, Choir 3, After Church

Rounding was good on Monday. Many of the patients who were suffering the previous week had gotten better, and some had been discharged. Charlotte and Nicky spent some time with the children and their families, and then Nicky came over to the room where David and Dr. Pur were treating patients. We were delighted when Bol showed up with his grandmother. His fear had vanished, and his mood transformed when David explained that we knew a team of doctors who come to Niarobi each year to repair these exact problems. While the doctors spoke with the grandmother, Nicky sat with Bol and took pictures of him and made him smile and laugh. He took pictures of Nicky and the Doctors. I went out in the hall after they left the room looking for someone, and I looked down, and there stood Bol, grinning, with his hand stretched out to shake mine!

David came up to me when I returned, and said something that registered immediately with me, "If you're thinking in terms of making a 'significant' difference in someone's life, something like this is huge." His grandmother confided that Bol comes home from school crying, the other boys making fun of him. In cultures like that, someone with that kind of deformity has very little hope. We believe God will provide the $3,500 or so to transport him and his grandmother to Kijabe, Kenya for corrective surgery in a few months at Dick Bransford's hospital. (This is another prayer request).

We prayed hard Monday night for no more rain so the plane could land on Akobo's dirt airstrip. We received an email that the MAF pilot was sick, and they were sending someone else in from Nairobi in the morning, so our flight would be arriving a couple of hours late. ... More prayer that our 5 tightly scheduled flights would not be disrupted.

At daybreak, I started packing up, and we were ready to go by 10:30. We presented 6 boxes of medicines to Dr. Pur for the hospital, and said our thank you's and goodbyes to the doctors and staff at the compound. I rode to the airstrip in the back of the ambulance with Dr. Pur and our luggage. The ambulance has only 1000 miles on it, but Dr. Pur recalled to me how it made the 2 hour trek back and forth on the night of the August massacre, carrying victims 6 at a time... many trips. Horrific pictures filled my mind and added final emphasis to my continuing prayers for peace to be achieved.

Akobo is a place of great beauty and amazing people. They are wise with the resources that they have, and they are willing to grow and adapt to the challenges of a new community, a new country and a world that is just about to invade their geographic isolation. And, there's something amazing here. In a culture, that in many ways lives much as it has for thousands of years ... there's no running water, no electricity, no phone ...but they know about google, and they expect (accurately) to have their own email soon. This opens up a universe of hope, opportunity and temptation. What can we do to hold out a good example? How can we even get their attention? How will God use us?

Here are some prayer requests for Akobo, Sudan

Further training for doctors and medical staff
Further training for pastors
Strengthening of the churches in Akobo and all of Southern Sudan
Peace among tribes
November peace conference among church leaders from south eastern Sudan.
Boy who was thrown down and sustained severe brain injuries
Other victims of violence
Cleft lip/cleft palate boy
End to drought
Relief from the next 8 months of starvation before the next possible harvest
Development of irrigation and sustainable food production
Resources and personnel to staff and supply hospital and clinics
Structural engineer to assess hospital facility so renovation resources can be applied for and secured.